Iraq: Suicide bomber kills at least 11 at Baghdad market

Baghdad: A suicide bomber blew up a car at the entrance of Baghdad's main vegetable market, killing at least 11 people and wounding dozens, security officials and medics said.

Citizens inspect the scene after a car bomb explosion at a crowded outdoor market in the Iraqi capital's eastern district of Sadr City, Iraq, on Monday. AP

"A soldier at the gate of Jamila market opened fire on a suicide car bomb after noticing a suspect vehicle but the terrorist blew up his car," interior ministry spokesman Saad Maan said.

A police colonel and a hospital official said at least 11 people were killed and 35 wounded. Maan said the soldier who opened fire on the attacker was among the wounded.

Jamila is the main wholesale vegetable market in Baghdad and lies in Sadr City, a vast, mostly Shiite, neighbourhood in the northeast of the capital which has been repeatedly targeted. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack but all such recent bombings have been claimed by the Sunni extremists of the Islamic State group.

The most recent major attack claimed by Islamic State was on 2 January — also in Sadr City — when a suicide bomber blew up a vehicle packed with explosives among a crowd of day labourers waiting for work, killing 35 people.